Really sad news. First because of his family but also for Russia.
I don't want to make any comment about Russia politics because I live too far from there. The only thing I know is that for a sucess government is necessary to have a strong opposition on the other side, otherwise the country will be on the regime of a dictatorship, which unfortunately happens in our neighboring Venezuela. I hope Putin has nothing to do with his death.

It's so sad. Surreal. I'm not sure it has sunk in for me yet. The point has been made in the media that, as Putin's fiercest critic, Nemtsov would have been under maximum state surveillance, so there's no way that a plot to kill him would have gone undetected. Even if Putin did not himself order the hit, it was allowed to happen by his regime.

Manus Cranny: Nemtsov's killing – how much of a blow is that to alternative voice, opposition voice in Russia?

Andrew Wood: If it has an objective, it is to spread fear. No one is safe, it says. This is in the most public possible place. Security cameras on the whole time. It's heavily policed – although they're now saying the security cameras were being repaired so they didn't record anything. And there are all sorts of obfuscations going on as to the reasons, or who might have done it and so on.

Mark Barton: Is it worth, you know, speculating the reasons and who might have done it, Sir Andrew?

AW: I think the reasons and who is responsible is perfectly obvious. And that is precisely what they will try to conceal. It is clear that this was done by someone very close to the regime. I doubt whether there was an order signed by Putin, any more than there was an order signed by Milosevic in his case. But it is done by somebody, or a group, who wished to appeal to the higher leadership of the regime, and it is in the spirit of the regime.

MC: Any credence do you give, any credence at all, to this personal control that Putin is proffering to take over the investigation into this?

AW: Well, it'll go the same way as his personal control of the investigation into the MH17 downing of the aircraft. So it'll just spin upriver and no one will ever know who is responsible. They may well find a victim to accuse, but that is not the same thing at all.

MB: Mikhail Prokhorov's sister Irina says Russia stands a crossroads unless the government returns to civilised politics to avoid further escalation of violence. She says, I fear there'll be seriously tragic consequences for the country. Do you concur?

AW: Yes. I mean, it is a major wake-up call. We in the West are very impressed by the apparent support for Putin, and there has been a patriotically whipped-up degree of support for him. But if you ask Russians what they expect over the next six months, they can't tell you. Which is a bad sign. If you ask yourself the question, if he has such wonderful support, why is he frightened of criticism, you get another sort of answer. So I think it's very rigid - it's also at the same time very fragile - control.

MC: One of the [people] … Obama and Merkel obviously conveying their condolences and condemnation of the killing. But also Petro Poroshenko. I find this quite insightful. Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine said that Nemtsov was a bridge between Russia and Ukraine. Is that your interpretation, perhaps that he acted as some kind of a conduit, as a bridge, in those politic?

AW: I suppose what the Ukrainian president had in mind is to say that here was a leading Russian politician who understood that the war in Ukraine was not in Russia's interests, and it was in Russia's interests for Ukraine to develop into a civilised and effective polity. I assume that's what he meant. I don't believe that he acted as a conduit in the sense that he was being tasked by the regime to convey messages and act as a channel between the two.

MB: Nemtsov has once been talked about as a potential President-in-waiting, wasn't he? That didn’t quite happen. Putin became…

AW: But that was in '97 before the crash.

MB: Of course. Is it worth speculating? One of our journalists Leonid Bershidsky has written a very good piece over the weekend, what would Russia be like under Nemtsov if that path had continued, if he had become president. Can you imagine a Russia under Nemtsov, and what would Russia look like?

AW: Yes I can. When I left, I thought that there was at least a possibility that Russia would become gradually more governed by institutions and understood laws than it has. I thought that there was a possibility - not a very strong one, but a possibility - that the federal system would work effectively, that the new president would get on with the parliament, or Duma, and that therefore there would be a proper political dialogue between the leadership in the executive branch and the federal organs. Instead of which, the institutions in Russia have been entirely drained of meaning. The great thing about Nemtsov that you sensed immediately was not only that he was hugely, hugely alive, a very magnetic personality, very eager to talk and full of laughter as well as seriousness, but he also stood for ordinary human values. There's a lot of talk in Russia about special Russian values. The special Russian value in this description appears to be "might is right".

MC: Sir Andrew, give us just a very brief sense of what happens at this moment in time, diplomatically, behind the scenes, between countries like America [and] Russia, Britain [and] Russia, Germany and Russia, on piqued moments like this.

AW: Well, the first thing that happens, or ought to happen anyway, is for the countries of the West to begin to have an instinctive realisation of the sort of regime that now exists in Russia. For a very long time we have hoped that it would evolve into something more like, let's say, Poland, which would be the best fate that Russia could possibly have. This is very clear now that this is not going to happen. There is a consequent risk, which I wouldn't like to say when or how, but there is a consequent risk of a serious crisis in Russia, leading to a degree of violence in Russia. I'm not saying it's a certainty, it's just a risk, and we have to be aware of that. So you have to recognise that, on the one hand, you're dealing with Putin for the foreseeable future, but on the other hand you must project to Russia as a whole that you care about Russia, about human values in Russia as well, because there will be an aftermath.

03-01-2015 11:34 PM

brazuca5copas

Re: Political Discussion Thread

Really sad news. First because of his family but also for Russia.
I don't want to make any comment about Russia politics because I live too far from there. The only thing I know is that for a sucess government is necessary to have a strong opposition on the other side, otherwise the country will be on the regime of a dictatorship, which unfortunately happens in our neighboring Venezuela. I hope Putin has nothing to do with his death.

02-27-2015 09:20 PM

monkey247

Re: Political Discussion Thread

This is just horrifying. Unbelievable. Boris Nemtsov was a former deputy Prime Minister of Russia and the first governor of Nizhny Novgorod. He once said in a radio interview that he thought Marat was sexy.

MARCH 15 (Saturday) at 14.00 ON INFORMATION sports committee in Yalta KULTSENTRE WILL BE MEETING WITH LEGEND world tennis player Marat Safin! Invites all tennis fans!

Nice to see he's not completely disconnected from tennis these days. Would've been, er, somewhat amusing if Marat had been Putin's ace up the sleeve in the ongoing international crisis.

Shaun Walker, the Guardian's Moscow correspondent, has also spotted Marat on the flight, travelling with Fetisov apparently. Via Twitter.

03-13-2014 09:00 PM

Sarahkd11

Re: Political Discussion Thread

Oh Horror.

I hope this isn't true.
If it is, i would be very curious of the nature of his work there.

Thanks for the info and for the photos Monkey !

03-13-2014 07:30 PM

monkey247

Re: Political Discussion Thread

According to this RTS journalist's Twitter, Safin is currently en route from Moscow to Simferopol. On government business, perchance ...

01-27-2014 02:30 PM

rosespower

Re: Political Discussion Thread

All this political career is just so sad. From the beginning I thought it was a bad move but I said hey whatever makes him happy.. But now I am not sure is making him happy. This is far from what I envisioned him doing after tennis. If he wanted to do some good he should have stuck with charity work this kind of stuff.

So not all EdRo deputies are unmitigated scoundrels, then (just most of them).

As far as I remember she was also one of the very few who didn't vote for anti-adoption law. The main reason why she's doing this is her opera career and reputation abroad worth more to her than her position in Russia. She's not a hero, just has different priorities. On the other hand, she didn't vote and nothing bad happened to her which means all other MP's could have refused to vote too. They are not really scoundrels, they are cowards and conformists easily intimidated by president's administration.

In case anyone's interested, MK.ru published an article on 25.12.2013, in which United Russia deputy, Maria Maksakova, called on the anti-gay laws to be revised "with more civilised rhetoric". So not all EdRo deputies are unmitigated scoundrels, then (just most of them).

Quote:

MP and opera diva Maksakova called the "United Russia" to "more civilized rhetoric" in the "Law on gay propaganda"

She found that good intentions pave the road to hell ...

On Wednesday, the final meeting of the Liberal platform all-Russian party "United Russia". Existence of some "platforms" within the fairly monolithic, at first glance, the "party of power" for many is still a revelation and a surprise, but New Year's meeting of the "power of the liberals" in the "President Hotel" was very crowded. The main sensation of the meeting was an unprecedented performance Maksakova Mary, State Duma deputy, member of the Committee on Culture DG, as well as an opera singer, soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre, the need for revision of the Federal Law № 135-FZ, better known as "anti-gay law" banning promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.

Photo: RIA Novosti

The statement by the famous singer and statesman (in a video exclusively published by "MK") caused a lot of excitement among the audience, many of whom were stunned by such a brave and unexpected performance from an "edinorosski."

Final meeting of the Liberal platform all-Russian party "United Russia" in the "President Hotel" was sensational. Deputy Maria Maksakova spoke about the need to revise the Federal Law № 135-FZ. Maria believes that after the adoption of the controversial law "Our country has huge image losses around the world."

In comments for "MK" Ms. Maksakova explained the reasons and motives of his statement, noting that after the adoption of the controversial law "Our country has huge image losses around the world."

Below is Maria Maksakova's full comment:

"I believe that this is a classic example of how the road to hell is sometimes paved with good intentions. Of course, the direct question, would you want your child to become an object of propaganda, including, as stated in the Act, "unconventional", then, of course, would say, "No, do not want to" . But in fact inadmissible any propaganda sexual lust, regardless of orientation, if it is aimed at children. Do not think it's right to allocate it a question of orientation in some separate, allegedly more malicious content.

"I think that the concept of "traditional" or "non-traditional" is used in the current legislation that is incorrect, because from a historical point of view it would be quite difficult to argue, for example, which of the orientations in the same ancient Greece was considered traditional. And we in the end, along with the religious culture, largely originating from Byzantium, and rely on the Greek civilization tradition.

"We as people of art and culture should be understood that the best creations of humanity associated with this attitude, and it makes no sense to spend some face and dividing lines. Both are normal. About this for a long time are the recommendations of the World Health Organization. I think this wording for legislation wrong and incorrect. It first.

"Second, law enforcement practice - the main criterion of success or justification of a particular statutory provision. And in our case, we see extremely negative consequences - the growth of crime and hate violence (against gays), as was the case in Volgograd, serious loss of reputation in the international arena and the attitude towards us, which is not changed the better.

"I am very sad to realize that the Olympic Games in Sochi, to which we have so long and tenderly prepared, can get by with less brilliance and pathos because of this unfortunate initiative that so hastily and, I believe, without a thoughtful discussion was adopted by the Duma on wave is not very wealthy ideological clichés. And I want to note that the initiator of the federal law is not made the faction "United Russia", so that we have, I'm sure there is a complete moral and political right to offer MPs to revert to the law and to make reasonable amendments".

01-05-2014 12:29 PM

Sarahkd11

Re: Political Discussion Thread

Thanks so much for sharing Monkey !
And happy new year to everyone.

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